One of India''s most respected economists, I G Patel, died in New York on Sunday. Ashwin Tombat profiles his life and achievements.

I G Patel, who died in New York of renal failure on Sunday, was one of India''s most respected economists. A close friend of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Patel was, in an illustrious career, secretary in the union finance ministry, governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and director of the prestigious London School of Economics (LSE). He was 80.

Patel had been suffering from pneumonia and lung congestion. His kidneys too had stopped functioning. Hospitalised three weeks ago, he was moved into an intensive care unit on Saturday. Wife Alaknanda and daughter Rehana, who teaches in New York, were by his side when he passed away.

A highly influential figure who helped shape India''s economic policies from the 1950s, Patel was believed to be prime minister P V Narasimha Rao''s first choice as finance minister in 1991. The job eventually went to Manmohan Singh, now India''s prime minister, who succeeded Patel as RBI governor in 1982.

Born on Nov 11, 1924 in the then princely state of Baroda, ruled by the Gaekwads, Patel got a state scholarship to study at King''s College in Cambridge. It was 1944, the second world war was raging and German U-boats stalked the seas, but 20-year-old Patel nevertheless braved a 48-day voyage by sea to England. It was his first journey outside Baroda and, set the stage for the rest of his journey in life.

When he came back with a PhD after five years, India was independent and the Baroda state was no more. Patel plunged into teaching, becoming the youngest head of the economics department of Baroda College, where he once studied. The same year, a student leader named Chiman Patel called a strike, and was willing to withdraw it only if the principal of the college stepped down. Patel, being acceptable to the student leaders, was prevailed upon to take the seat and became principal of the college that went on to become MS University, when he was just 25 years old. The leader of that agitation later went on to become the chief minister of Gujarat when, ironically, he was himself lampooned as ''Chiman chor'' and toppled by the 1973-74 Nav Nirman student movement.

More interesting times awaited young I G Patel when he joined the International Monetary Fund in Washington and came back to join the finance ministry in 1954. Within two months of joining, Patel later remembered in his memoir — Glimpses of Indian Economic Policy — An insider''s view — he was invited to prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru''s house for dinner on August 15.

His stint in the finance ministry — from 1954 to 1972 — saw him associate with the legendary P C Mahalanobis to draft the country''s controversial second Five Year Plan, get actively involved during the tumultuous days of the Bangladesh war and oversee the process of the nationalisation of banks. He rose to be chief economic adviser from 1962 to 1967, and then economic affairs secretary between 1968 and 1972. His tenure witnessed the nationalisation of six private sector banks and introduction of targets for priority sector lending.

Patel later recalled that Indira Gandhi was a very competent PM, but the success of the Bangladesh war got to her head and that was her undoing. He remembered how when Mrs Gandhi decided to nationalise banks, he was asked to give effect to her wishes — by drafting a bill, a note for the cabinet and a speech for her — within 24 hours.

In 1972, he left India to work for the UNDP for five years, being away during the rocky days of the early ''70s and the emergency. He returned to the union finance ministry in 1977, with the Janata Party in government under Morarji Desai, and was appointed governor of the Reserve Bank of India. When the doughty Charan Singh, then finance minister, asked I G Patel, whether he had any idea of agriculture, he replied: "Patels are the Jats of Gujarat. I know as much as you do."

His tenure witnessed the demonetisation of high denomination notes as well as the ''gold auctions'' conducted by RBI on behalf of the government of India. The Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporations were merged, and a departmental re-organisation was undertaken in RBI. He played an active role in availing of the IMF''s Extended Fund Facility in 1981 due to balance of payments difficulties. This represented the largest arrangement in IMF''s history at the time.

After retiring as RBI governor in 1982, Patel had a two-year stint as director of IIM, Ahmedabad, before going on to become the ninth director of the London School of Economics, from 1984 to 1990. When he took over the reins, the institution was struggling with finances. Patel took some harsh steps, including cutting the honourarium paid to retired faculty members and removing a moratorium on fees for foreign students.

However, Patel''s efforts in getting reclusive philosopher and former head of LSE Karl Popper — author of the pathbreaking The Open Society and its Enemies — to allow LSE to institute a chair in his name came to nought. He says in his book An Encounter With Higher Education: My Years at LSE, that when Popper''s two favourite students were rejected for the post, Popper refused to allow his name to be used for the chair. His other notable memory from that era is of feisty British prime minister Margaret Thatcher saying to him, "Oh, you are going as principal of that school! How is it that LSE always has foreigners at its head?"

After retiring from LSE in 1992, Patel was associated with the IMF. He than immersed himself in Indian classical music, worked with educational institutions and was on the governing bodies of institutions like the Indira Gandhi Institute of Economic Research and the IIM, Ahmedabad, apart from writing books.

In what he calls ''a life well lived'', Patel reminisced about his meeting with Beijing University student protesters at Tianamen Square, just a day before the infamous massacre. He also squarely denounced Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi over the post-Godhra riots: "To call Chief Minister Narendra Modi Chhote Sardar is an insult to that great man [Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel]," he said in a signed article in the popular media. "As a Gujarati I am ashamed and feel humiliated. When I think of the riots I keep saying that my countrymen can''t do this, my people can''t do it. I hope, slowly, we realise that we did wrong."

When Manmohan Singh became the finance minister, Patel approved: "He (Singh) knows very well how to deal with politicians. He is a man who would not like to rub anyone the wrong way. But he does have the strength to deal with the rough characters in politics," Patel told a newspaper in May 2004.

The Vadodara-based Patel was to return to India from New York in June, but was forced to alter his plans following his illness. He says in the concluding part of his memoir: "Economics at the end of the day is about choice; and the right, ability and desire to choose — which includes choosing something difficult, not yet there and working for it."